Eighth day nail art school

Hi girls! This is my second try at writing this. There is no internet so am writing offline but lost the first draft into some black hole of who-knows-where. Today, it seems, all I did was vertical lines. Practicing lines. Once you get the hang of it, it flows. It was my last display set today and I used lines.

I started with a base of Revlon Flirt, a candy type purple. Did the pinkie first and this would be a fab mani on its own: vertical stripes with flowers on top. (BTW notice how the Seche Vite caused shrinkage? Interesting...) I like this the best. In fact, from pinkie to middle I like and would make great accent nails or full manis. Am on the fence regarding the index finger, probably because of the white line. Might look better without. And the thumb started as a side French but got boring and now looks like I came too late to the World Cup Brazil party!

I did two pedi toe nail sets as well. The first used my own newbie Manshong turquoise blue! I also added a diagonal gradient green using a tiny piece of car sponge!

This looks a lot better in natural light. The turquoise-coral combo looks good and the yellow in mid flower is definitely noticeable. Didn't add any leaves this time. Really is very pretty. My second set was done directly on the white nail as it was getting really late and I wanted a French type display.

Each tip is in a different candy shop colour going diagonally in alternating directions. These were covered in navy blue and red "sparks" from the alternating sides. Cute and pop-py. So, another super big day. Tomorrow is my last "graduation" day and I will recap as well then.

Seventh day nail art school

Today was another long day, and a solo day. Was on my own. After warm up I finished my French bridal set. Added some light green leaves and rhinestones. I also added another light nude base on the under side of the clear display tip. Normally on a client I would have applied a soft nude to start and even out the nail bed.

The top coat evened out the white tip and roses. I am very happy with these. And, as usual, everything looks better from a distance. The studio LED lighting is harsh. Then I was to do another set with some flowers. I decided, since I had basically all day, to do a different floral idea on each nail. That could give clients some ideas.

I started with a base of Revlon Marmalade (ah! Finally a name!). A bright summery orange. Starting with the thumb, I kept updating my colours in different levels of depth to work on each nail. I think they all look like Hawai'ian shirts! Must admit, by the time I got to the pinkie nail I was a bit over it! Some have glitter specks, I kept one more monotone. Again, look great at normal arm's distance! Below are some detail pics of the nails. So girls, tomorrow is another day. Eyes are tired tonight.

Sixth day nail art school

Hi girls! Another full on day, and I didn't finish completely. After warm up I started in on new designs. Practiced on my pad before starting the first set. On the to-do list was a gradient with dolphins and palm tree. Neither are on my personal hit list but, hey, you'll never know what clients want.

The gradient is acrylic paint instead of polish, using a car sponge! Made for a very uneven surface, a polish base would have been helpful. And a smaller sponge. But who am I to question the schooling?! I added a glitter and top coat before continuing. Then the base of the dolphins and tree were drawn in black. The tree is a multipart endeavor for the feathering. It's a tad large, too.

White was added to the dolphins and then top coat. When dry the set goes on my board and I start a new set. Next on the list was freehand French as a bridal set using roses and rhinestones.

I ended up using white acrylic for the tips as the white polish was well beyond its use-by date, way too thick. Also, I would have applied a nude base before but, again, what do I know?! You can't top the white tip too much otherwise the tip is no longer white. Duh. So my design in the end will suffer but I think people will get it. My tips are nice, though, even and clean with simple strokes.

They were topped with a pale pink (I secretly topped up the white again, even though they thought it looked good). Then I started my roses. One each in white, then a fill in with different levels of pink. Then a second pink. Then time was up so I will finish tomorrow with leaves, pale background flowers and rhinestones (though I did place a couple of stones). Bye for now! x

Fifth day nail art school

Today was a very productive day! Altogether I now have five finished sets on my super deluxe display board. I plan on whipping up something snazzier for the future but for now this is pretty cool. Five different looks. I am bound in background colours by the box behind the desk, mainly Revlons. And mainly beige shimmers or reds. In my mind I want periwinkle blue, but alas, not possible.

First I finished the hearts from yesterday. Was brain dead on that one so practiced dotting with my brush and added some glitter. The hearts are pretty cute and I added depth with red on the pink, but not the best combo.

For my next set my homework was diamond flowers and the dragonfly (or whatever we will call it). I started with a diagonal duo of a lilac nude and purple. While that dried I mixed my colours. I was going for a tone-in-tone purple look. I wanted a different look on the board away from the yellows and greens.

I painted the diamond flowers in dark then added lighter inner petals. The leaves are two toned in green with green bits in the middle. I added the dragonfly on two fingers. This looks better live as the lighting in the studio is poor. Dabbed some silver glitter on, too. On to my last set for the day. Severine was dead set on me doing strawberries. I suggested apples as well (Otago being the apple capital). So we agreed on that one.

I wanted a light bright blue background but nothing was there. Didn't want yet another light green or white or nude. So tried a metallic blue from Revlon. By the way, none of the polishes have names, only numbers! Then I drew the apples and accent nail strawberries in deep red, added accents in dark brown and yellow. I really like my leaves! And the blue is not too bad, though could be lighter. Again, this looks better live. So that was day five! No idea that is on tomorrow - we will see! Ciao x